Science & Environment

As developing nations struggle with population growth, poverty, famines, and wars, their residents are discovering the environmental effects of these problems, in the form of increasing air, water, and land pollution. Pollution is almost unchecked in many developing nations, where Western nations dump toxic wastes and untreated sewage flows into …

Pollution refers to the presence of environmental contaminants in quantities large enough to cause damage, deterioration, or toxicity. Such contaminants are known as pollutants. While some forms of pollution have natural causes, the term is used almost exclusively to refer to pollution caused by human activity. Environmental preservation has long …

Marine pollution is the detrimental alteration of a portion of an ocean or ocean coastline. Pollution is often a threat to any organism living in or depending upon the ocean. Human impact on coastal and open ocean habitats comes in many forms: nutrient loading from agricultural runoff and sewage discharges, …

Among the greatest challenges humankind has faced throughout its history, feeding the world’s hungry ranks at or near the very top of the list. And with the world’s population expected to top nine billion between 2050 and 2100, this issue will surely become even more important in the coming decades. …

Between the pristine beaches of Hawaii and the gold coasts of California lies the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, which stretches all the way to Japan. It is exactly what it sounds like: a swirling vortex of discarded plastics, lost fishing gear, old tires, the odd shoe. Scientists say the patch, …